Some 40 plus years ago I was reading a slim
volume about Mars. In one of the last
chapters was a photograph of something called
a Wolf trap. It was a small cicular plate
containing things to look for microbes, it
shot out a metal weight with sticky string
which was pulled back to allow tests on the
collected soil. Being a gadget fan I was
quite fascinated.

Years passed and the two Viking landers
delivered complex apparatus to the Martian
surface. So now we would know about microbes
or not! Or not! Or not! After millions of
dollars investment it seemed something
inorganic could fool two of the three
microbe detectors!

I dug out my Cosmos book to remind me of the
story. Sagan explained how Wolf Vishniac had
his "Trap" dropped from the Viking program.
Pity, it had a simple objective of seeing if
nutrients in clear water would feed any
micobes turning the water cloudy. But I
suppose this might have been fooled as well.

Actually at the time, my conspiracy neurons
started firing, are scientists afraid of
complete confirmations when they would like
continuing grants far into the future?
No..silly thoughts..smacked wrist!

I have thought that a camera attached to a
microscope is the best idea these days, lets
just look for the darned things.

Anyway, whats the betting when Phoenix has
done its things we get a lot of "maybees"

there's always a lot of "maybes" with this kind of thing.
and, along with those "maybes", come the "they are covering something ups" and the "it's all about power and moneys".

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

Look away -- soon.

University of Arizona, Mars Phoenix MECA

From what I've read, Earth bacteria range from about 0.1 to about 600 µm.

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